Trevor Bauer apologizes to ESPN as baseball's 'fake news' saga grows

Over the weekend, Cleveland Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer called out ESPN and the MLB Network for taking seriously and broadcasting a joke tweet about his self-treatment methods as he recovers from a stress fracture in his right fibula.

The false methods cited were “a course of blood transfusions and colloidal silver supplements to rid his body of CIA nanites,” as thought up by The Ringer’s Michael Baumann.

Trevor Bauer says that the doctors' timeline for his return is based on outdated mainstream medicine and he's begun a course of blood transfusions and colloidal silver to rid his body of CIA nanites. He anticipates missing two starts, three tops.

Hey @MLBNetwork and @espn I would like public statements on social media and on your networks clarifying that the information you wrongly reported as fact earlier regarding my recovery timetable and process is false and not a quote from me. The report is damaging and absurd.

But the plot thickened Monday, as ESPN apparently found no record of ever having spread the false information. So Bauer, who is obviously strongly against the spreading of false information at this point, issued an apology for his own error.

“It appears the information I was given, and believed to have seen, was wrong, and ESPN never aired the fake tweet,” Bauer said. “Spreading misinformation is wrong, and is what I was originally angry about. I wanted to set the record straight and apologize to ESPN for wrongly accusing them of broadcasting this misinformation.”

So the recent incident was basically the perfect storm to confirm Bauer’s expectations for media he was predisposed to dislike. But you have to hand it to him for sticking to his morals and publicly apologizing.